


Not A One Time Thing

by Awol



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Childbirth, M/M, One Night Stand, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Verbal Abuse, Violence, hidden birth, hiding child, hiding pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 05:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8389036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awol/pseuds/Awol
Summary: Ironhide had a one nightstand with a mech he can't remember. That is not the problem in this situation, what is the problem is that he had budded a new spark from the donor. The war is still going on, and being on a military base with your Autobot team, doesn't help matters. He has to keep the spark from being known. At all costs.





	1. No Memory

Ironhide gave a grunt as he settled down in his “private” hangar. It wasn’t really that private as Ironhide would really liked, but it was his that he could hunker down in when he needed to do things; such as resting, or some time to himself. Right now, it was one of those moments that he needed time to himself. Never mind that it was well past three in the morning on the military base, or that he should have been recharging at the current moment.

At this moment, Ironhide was just now getting back to the base, and his hangar, after being off it without approval. Earlier that night, in fact earlier in the evening, Ironhide took off without either Optimus’ approval, or one of the Human delegates that sometimes wanted to know where they were going. Some would ask later where he went, but most would guess with very few details needed. Ironhide was a mech, and like all mechs, and humans, he had needs.

Now, normally one would leave the base for that reason, there was places others went to near the base to help with those urges, but there was one problem. Those mechs were either bonded or in a relationship. Ironhide was not, he was single. He had been single for as long as he could remember, sure there was the stint of time he was with the femme Chromia, but she moved on long ago to another femme she was on the team with. Ironhide saw no reason to forbid it, it happened, and he was too far away to really stop her, thus he let her go. He was getting older and unlike Prime or Ratchet, he had no one interested in him or was interested in someone else. Least interested in someone he could have by any means.

So, unlike those who were in relationships of some sort, had someone that wanted them, either them being on Earth or coming to the plant, Ironhide was alone. There wasn’t anyone in the Autobot regime that wanted to have a romp and tumble with an old rust bucket such as Ironhide. This meant he had to go off base and find someone that had no attachment to him or the Autobots. One that wanted to drink, and have that rump with him, before getting on with their life.

That was what Ironhide had done.

He found the mech that wanted to have a roll around with, drank with him, but he drank a bit too much. Ironhide couldn’t remember the mech for the life of him. What he could remember was that they had their tumble of interface in a random field and the mech left not long afterwards, with Ironhide being left unsatisfied. Which wasn’t exactly the other mech’s fault, mind you. Ironhide drank too much to where it was hard to satisfy him if someone didn’t have certain qualities. These were stamina, patience, and want to explore Ironhide’s body to see what made him tick. So the mech had left after blowing a few loads into Ironhide’s frame.

Now, Ironhide wasn’t organic by any means, he was the farthest thing from even being organic with his metallic body and alien composition. So many things that affected humans; diseases, bacteria, and the like, didn’t harm Ironhide. This didn’t mean Ironhide _wasn’t_ susceptible to things though, he could still die and be harmed by many things like viruses, and contaminants like rust. Rust was something both he and humans could be harmed by, but something like valve mites was strictly a Cybertronian problem.

So a tank, gestation or otherwise, being full of fluids from another mech wouldn’t make Ironhide carry. There was more to the process than just timing like it did with humans. He hadn’t had his spark merged with the mech, hadn’t had his spark fondled, wasn’t bonded so another mecha couldn’t manipulated his fertility levels or frame coding from his frame type. The most the fluids would do was break down into a fuel substance his body would absorb in a few sols add more energy to his body. It was safe to do, unless the mech had a virus, contaminants, or intent to breed Ironhide, then there was not a worry to be concerned of.

Yet, Ironhide knew nothing of the mech, had not used certain protective protocols with said mech, heck he didn’t even remember who the mech was. It could have been _Soundwave_ for all he knew. He was also still very, very, _very_ needy and needed a release before he accidentally budded from his charge.

Ironhide didn’t need another creation running around right now, Bumble was enough. His little scout wasn’t even a young adult yet, and he had been sent to Earth alone. He had his legs shot off, humans had put freezing liquid over Hide’s mechling, which he was still peeved about, not to mention that Megatron had removed Bumble’s vocalizer! No, Hide had enough to worry about with Bumble without adding a new-spark to the mix.

But, in the intoxicated, and high charged state he was in; Ironhide was not thinking correctly to take precautions against budding a small spark with donor fluids in his body. So, instead of either draining the fluids from his body, or having his fingers working to play with his valve and nodes, Ironhide opened his chassis in the empty space of his hangar. Blue glow of his spark filled the space, and right off the bat, Ironhide began to grip his core. It made him moan in a whirr of Neo-Cybex with a tinge of his home accent of Crystal City. He cursed while stroking and playing with his spark.

It was a quick work that the weapon specialist was able to do. He was grunting and crying out some in a way that, if others were up and awake and knew what the Cybertronian language was like, could tell what was going on. But, be that as it may, Ironhide had no one in the wiser of what he just did. The mech slumped down and shivered while his frame wracked with his overload and he bucked from his frame tingling, twitching, and almost convulsing in a way.

It felt good. So good. It had been too long since he had last played with himself like this.

Ironhide pulled his servo away and closed his chassis before putting his servo back on his plating. He wasn't in the slightest bit aware of what he did, least not in his sober mind that was going to come later. All he knew was that his frame was feeling good, and he felt lighter than he had in awhile. But later on, after that, he would be more conscious of just what his actions had done for his future.


	2. Red Alert's Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ironhide's late night didn't go unnoticed. Red Alert was there to see him leave and come back, now the security director is going to have to inform Prime about his findings. It isn't going to be a pleasant thing to speak about first thing in the morning.

It was early morning, the sun barely rising, but the soldiers were starting to rise, minus those on night duty. It was just past five thirty in the morning and already, someone was going to have a bad day. The mech that had been put in place of building up the security of the base, one who was extremely paranoid and had moments of hysteria, was going to someone’s hangar. He had waited long enough, gathered evidence he needed, and was now going to report something that happened a few hours earlier in the night. He came up to the small ‘door’ that was used to make a private barrier and knocked on it.

There was a slight noise that came from inside. The mech had been asleep and dozing off and on from having a long night of things he had been working on and reading since they needed immediate attention. Now, exhausted and being woken up by an underling, the mech inside came to the door. It opened and the ever impressive form of Optimus Prime stood in the doorway. He looked down to his security director and blinked.

“Yes, Red Alert, what is it?” he asked, his gruff voice was thick from lack of sleep and not being fully awake just yet. Though it did show he was paying attention. The mech that was decked out to be a security car style armor, stood before him and at attention.

“Sir, I have came to report some activity that went on last night, specifically starting at 2145 hours and ending at 0358 hours.” Red Alert stated while holding out the file he made that contained images, timestamps, activity observation, and a plethora of other items that Red usually put into the reports. Optimus stared at it before carefully taking it and began to open it. He blinked as he stared at the familiar image of Ironhide’s alt mode slipping past the gate.

“Ironhide left base?” he questioned as he saw the timestamp was for 2145 hours, or 9:45 for the humans who weren’t on base. He moved the image aside then began to look at the others. He had been gone from 2145 hours to 0210 hours from the security feeds. Where had he gone?

“Given by the look on your face, you understand, yes Ironhide left base and didn’t come back until very late. That gap in time of four and a half hours, doesn’t correspond with any record of him having permission to leave, his absence was noted, and it wasn’t as if he had reason to leave. His human charge, Lieutenant Colonel William Lennox, was on base the entire time. I already gathered inquiry from him about what Ironhide could have done if it was for him. Lieutenant Colonel Lennox had no clue of why Ironhide would leave, had hasn’t asked him to do anything as he does from time to time.” Red Alert informed him while handing him the sheet of questioning he did, along with the answers, he did for Will. It was marked for just thirty minutes ago.

“I see” Optimus said while reading over them. He hummed lightly while reading over the questions. Usually, Ironhide left if Will was on time off to go see his family, but Will just came back from leave just two days prior. “It says he came back at 0210 in the morning but didn’t slip past the gate until 0250, what was he doing at that time?” Optimus asked Red while looking up to give him the proper showing of him letting Red speak.

“He was sitting in his alternate mode about twenty meters from the gate.” Red stated then began to elaborate, “Ironhide was sitting there, his frame rumbling as if he was in an idle state, and some soldiers on duty went to investigate said he smelt of high volumes of a chemical smell akin to gas. I believe he was intoxicated and had a moment of being unable to stay online.” the Security chief said and handed another report of the soldiers giving their accounts in a collective.

“That doesn’t sound like Ironhide….” Optimus muttered to himself while reading over the accounts. But the familiar form of the top-kick, Hide’s choice of alt. mode, sat there clear as day in the night vision image.

“It doesn’t, I don’t know what he left for, but I believe he had a few exchanges with another mecha.” Red stated while shifting some in place. Optimus blinked and gave Red a look that suggested he needed to speak more on the statement.

“What do you mean?” the Prime inquired while getting more, and more, and more awake and more into his Leader mode while thinking of what Ironhide could have done while not on base.

“I believe he laid with someone” Red Alert stated, “He had exchanges of paint in areas that most believed was him getting into an accident, but with us that know the anatomy changing with mode switches, it is clear to see that he was meeting someone.” the security director stated and vented some. Optimus frowned at this. There were many mechs on this planet that were cons or neutrals, and none of them were fully documented or known to be traced and tracked. The Autobots that were off base were on missions with the humans, doing scouting or reconnaissance, and the rest were here. There wasn’t a chance that Ironhide went to meet the Autobots that were off base, they weren’t within the time stretch that he was gone. Most were at least ten hours away. All with the exception of Bumblebee, he was two hours away at Samuel’s home, but he highly doubted that Ironhide would look for relations with his own creation.

At least he hoped that he wouldn’t in such a drunken stupor.

“What was the color of the paint exchange?” Optimus went on, putting the thought of Ironhide doing that with his own mechling.

“It was hard to distinguish because it was dark, but from sample gathering I was able to get when he came onto base and got held up at the gate, it was almost purple in color” Red stated. He rambled a small bit on how he caught Ironhide before he left and went to his hangar.

Purple…. Now there wasn’t a single Autobot on Earth that was purple unless they changed on the fly.

But there was a few cons that were painted such coloring, and maybe a few neutrals as well.

“I see… where is he now?” Optimus questioned as he looked through the file some more to finish up the reading and reports.

“In his hangar. He entered at 0300 hours sharp and hasn’t left yet. He’s still within his hangar” Red Alert informed him, “Optimus, Sir” he started, “If I may speak freely for a moment” he told, being slightly nervous in what he was thinking of saying.

“Proceed” Optimus told his security director and watched him as he held the file open. He watched Red shift in place before the mech got the courage to speak up.

“There was a sound reported coming from Ironhide’s hangar, many of the men were saying it sounded like a screech of metal on metal. I heard the noise, it was no screech. Ironhide was… was. “ he flustered some in place before he cleared his vocalizer. “He was moaning in what I would assume was either pain or pleasure” He informed his Prime. Optimus blinked slowly slowly to this before he vented inwards.

“Was this the last that he did before the final timestamp?” Optimus questioned as he got to the last bit of images and note taking his security director put down. He looked to Red and saw him nodding to his question. Optimus nodded in return, showing that he didn’t need Red Alert to say more on the subject. He put his servo on Red’s shoulder and began to speak while giving Red a silent gesture that he did the right thing.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Red Alert. I’ll be sure to confront Ironhide about this now. Given the information, he’s most likely either still intoxicated, hung over, or not aware of any of the two.” Optimus said, “I doubt he even thought about going to Ratchet with the information you gave me, if you would alert him for me on the matter. Tell him to contact me in about ten minutes if I don’t bring Ironhide in first” the Prime ordered. He was going into full leader mode and Red Alert was at attention again. He nodded to Optimus.

“Yes, my Prime. I’ll do that right away” he informed his leader. This got him a nod back before Optimus spoke again, “Dismissed” Optimus stated before giving Red a glance as the younger mech went off to do as he had been ordered.

The prime vented inwards before rubbing his face.

Just what was Ironhide thinking when he decided to do this? There was regulations, and a process to go through before someone was allowed off base. They could not just come and go freely, there was reasons for it. Not just that of all the safety regulations, but because there was a chance that they would need him in a base attack, or being called to aid someone, or greet their fallen soldiers that impacted on the surface.

Optimus groaned some in aggravation before he moved to leave his hangar and office area to go to Ironhide’s hangar. He did this as he closed the file and carried it. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant meeting at all. Especially since he knew how Ironhide was, and because his own feelings for the mech would complicate things.

Ironhide leaving to go see another mech? That was just illogical. For as long as he knew Hide, from when he met him in his youth as the new Prime and gaining him as his bodyguard, the mech simply didn’t do things like this, didn’t go and lay random mechas. Ironhide had been in a relationship prior to now, that was a given and common knowledge, but that was eons ago.

So why was Ironhide doing this?

If the mech was needy in a sexual desire then he could simply ask any one of them to help with the problem, they would be happy to oblige, at least he would. It was his duty to help his mechs with any sort of problem they had, plus his own wants of lechery for the older mech would be met as well. Optimus paused and shook his helm at the thought, hiding his face behind his mask as he went on wards to Ironhide’s claimed hangar.

There was no time for these thoughts, though. Ironhide had broken code, broke rank, and was in serious trouble. Not only would the humans be needing an explanation, if he did leave base to meet another mecha then there was a chance he was carrying something. A virus or a parasite would be risking the other soldiers on base. Being exposed to such things such as cosmic rust, that wasn’t a pleasant thing to have.

Ironhide would not only need to be punished, but have a complete scan of his systems, frame, coding, and possibly spark from Ratchet to know he was clean. It wasn’t just a simple scan of his frame that would suffice the medic with having to deal with his old friend’s fornication.

If he fornicated that was, Optimus was going to give Ironhide the benefit of the doubt, maybe he went to go have an off base brawl and ended it with drinking as a cool down. One couldn’t know for sure, they weren’t there. But the didn’t mean that Optimus wasn’t going to deal punishments to his weapon’s specialist. No one got away with something and didn’t have some sort of punishment, not even the Prime himself. Ironhide was no different, and Optimus was going to give it to him, not matter how much of a bitter taste it left in his mouth.


	3. Ironhide's Bad Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ironhide just wants to sleep, but Optimus has other plans.

Ironhide didn’t know how long he had been in recharge, or at least something like it. True recharge was in the form of actually defragging his processor and archiving what had gone one prior to the last time he went to a defrag cycle. He was in something akin to that cycle, but he wasn’t defragging or processing what he had done the day prior. Instead, his body was just resting and relaxing while his processor was working in a suspended state, gathering information for Ironhide to later deconstruct and filter through.

It didn’t last too long, someone was knocking on his hangar door, rather loudly at that. This caused the mech to groan while he tried to hide himself more in his makeshift berth. The small little nest like bed was stuffed up in a corner and had a metal top to it. Uncomfortable as it was, it was still something to sleep on. It didn’t stop the noises though. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away. Yeah, that was what he’d do, he’d ignore it and it would go away, such things did ha- nope. No the knocking continued. It was hurting his helm and he felt sick from the pain and just general nausea from being ‘hung over’ as one would say. 

Primus was last light really worth it? All that drinking… His thoughts didn’t process long with the continuous knocking going on. That was getting on his nerves. And making him want to yell from the pain.

Eventually, Ironhide got up and moved to go over to the door, wobbling on unsteady peds. He reached down, gripped the garage like door, and opened it, growling and glaring at the morning light and at…. Prime? Hide sneered some then moved to go back into his hangar. Primus below did he feel sick, he didn’t need to be woke up this early, he didn’t need Prime seeking him out this early either!

Ironhide looked to his internal clocking system to tell what time it was. The result wasn’t what Ironhide wanted to see.

“It’s only six! Why is anyone up at the time?” he moaned from the fact he hadn’t had much sleep, maybe two hours if that. He was so out of character it was cringe worthy. Optimus noted the change of character and shook his helm. Hide was hung over and it seemed he hadn’t had much sleep or had just gone to sleep. So the character change was to be expected. Optimus ducked under the door and headed inside then went towards Ironhide. 

“We’re up because that is when we need to be, it’s normal for functioning members of society to be up early” Optimus informed while holding the folder tightly. Ironhide winced some with the sound of Optimus’ voice. Was he always this loud? Or was it from him being sick from the drinking the night prior? Ironhide didn’t know as he was unable to think currently. He moved farther away from Optimus and tried to lower the volume of his audial input. It didn’t help much.

“Ironhide, we need to talk” he told him and watched Ironhide flinch. Servos shot up to Ironhide’s audials and he vented. Sensory sensitivity was an obvious sign of being hung over, and he looked pale so he might be nauseous. This was just from observation, he wasn’t a medic so he couldn’t be sure fully. Optimus went forward, “You left base last night without permission” he continued while Ironhide was trying to get him to stop. Too bad for Ironhide, Optimus wasn’t going to be nice about this. He reached into his subspace on his hip and brought out a cube, this would do the trick for the audial sensitivity in the least. If Hide couldn’t focus with him talking, what was the point? It would like yelling at a brick wall for being built in that place.

“Drink this” Optimus told Ironhide, holding out the energon to him, “I’m sure you’ll feel a little better after consuming it” he informed the other while Ironhide looked to it. His tone was dripping with his displeasure of what they were going to be talking about. The weapon’s specialist took the cube and then opened the seal. He sighed before starting to sip it and gave a sneer. Ugh, it was almost like sludge going down his throat, no doubt it was medical grade, full of nutrients to help whatever ailed the drinker. Ironhide felt Optimus’ optics on him and knew the other was watching him closely. He kept drinking the fuel he was given, it would have been wasteful to stop and they couldn’t afford to waste anything.

Optimus was doing just that, watching as Ironhide drank and emptied the cube. Maybe now he could talk with him and not have such reactions, and have some feedback as well. Once Ironhide was finished, Optimus spoke again. 

“Better? Now, about last night” he started, “You left base without alerting anyone, getting permission, or giving a hint as to where you were going” the Prime started and opened the file that Red Alert gave him. “Red informed me you were gone for four and a half hours before sitting outside the base gates for nearly an hour, polished off your aft, and having signs of being in contact with another mecha. Afterwards, you went to your quarters and did something to yourself. If I were to guess from being your friend, you were pleasuring yourself. Does this sound familiar?” Optimus quirked after doing a quick review of the even from what Red told him.

Ironhide stood there, holding the cube and, in his sleep deprived state, had some cockiness to how he was doing things and since he was in trouble, he didn’t seem to care much. Optimus noted it and vented in. Oh boy, this wasn’t going to be very satisfying. He wanted to knock that cockiness out with his fist if it wasn’t professional and if Ironhide had been anyone else, he would have. “Ironhide, just what were you thinking?” Optimus asked him when he got not a single answer. 

That began to open a can of worms, to say the least.

“I was thinking that it wasn’t any business to others what I was doing. Being a military base, it wasn’t your concern as to what I was doing off base, given the nature of what was going to happen.” Ironhide started, his low voice not giving much niceness in it. Optimus stood straighter. Just what was wrong with this mech? He was highly out of character. 

“It is our business, Hide” he started, “Given that we’re still at war, we’re not civilians, and you live here, you have to inform us, it is our business, you’re one of my people. Thus I have a right to know” Optimus said, putting his authority forward, “What if you were attacked and we didn’t know where you were? We couldn’t aide you, you couldn't get back to us, we wouldn’t know what was going on. Ever think of that?” Optimus inquired while Ironhide continued to be defiant. 

“I don’t know what your problem is right now, soldier, but you better knock it off. You’re already going to be in punishment for a while from not just this action last night, but the attitude you’re pulling right now.” Optimus informed him, “You went AWOL, disobeyed orders, are acting defiant to what is going on and-HEY!” Optimus shouted when Ironhide moved to leave. The Prime pulled him back and closed the door before switching from English to Neo-Cybex. “What is your damage, Ironhide?! What is causing this sudden attitude you have towards me?” Optimus asked and pushed Ironhide to the wall, keeping him there. The action caused Ironhide to drop the cube and it clattered against the ground, skittering beside their peds and landing off in the shadows of the hangar.

“Is there a larger problem we don’t know about that you need help on? Tell me, Hide. I don’t like this. Don't like what you’re doing right now. After what we’ve been through, why are you pulling stunts like this?” Optimus knew he was putting in his emotional feelings in with Hide, but honestly, he couldn’t keep them out. Ironhide was his friend, one of his best friends at that, and seeing him do things like this, it wasn’t something he liked to see. Ironhide was giving him a look while venting in. “Please… tell me, no formalities, what are you feeling, Ironhide? Why are you doing things like this?” Maybe if he got Ironhide to talk more, he would be more realizing just how bad things might be for him.

“I was feeling trapped by my boss.” Ironhide stated, which made Optimus blink and rear his helm back some, “I have needs like other mecha, other soldiers around here. But I simply can’t go to one of them and ask for a fool around. Not only is it unprofessional in this base, with how Human logic is, but it just doesn’t feel right with me. You and I know the other Autobots are in relationships, bonded or otherwise, and some don’t want anything to do with others. I can’t ask you because it would be seen as if I was looking to raise rank. Humans don’t understand, and I’m sure you explaining things would be completely over their heads. Even if you’re my friend, you’re still my leader, as you pointed out.” Ironhide informed him then crossed his arms more, “Is that what you wanted to know?” he inquired. 

Optimus vented in and sighed before nodding, “Somewhat, I need to know, how much did you drink, do you remember the mech, and did you get rid of the charge?” he inquired. Ironhide sighed out and shook his helm before moving to answer him. 

“I drank more than I should, lets just get that out of the way. I was in a state that I just wanted to drink myself out of consciousness and not remember the next day. I seem to have achieved that because I don’t remember the mech I had been with. Don’t remember what they look like, what they sounded like, if they were a ground frame or aerial, con or bot. I have no clue. As for my charge… yes I did get rid of it.” Ironhide told him. He held himself some while he realized just how sleazy that sounded compared to how he normally was. He sounded like a cheap piece of shareware, a two cent trick mech. Primus that was bad. Ironhide’s frame warmed with slight embarrassment from just how bad it sounded and how it was going to be perceived. 

“Slag” he muttered and covered his face partly, “...that sounds bad” he lightly stated and Optimus nodded in agreement. “It does, that is why I’m upset with you. I don’t know what caused it, or didn’t since I know now, and... Primus Hide, you need to see Ratchet, you might have caught something from that mech, or worse, get sparked” Optimus said and Ironhide flinched at the words. No, he didn’t need another creation right now, especially one from an unknown donor. He groaned and sighed, “We’re not finished here are we?” he questioned Optimus.

“What do you think?” Optimus questioned back and Ironhide vented in, “Not by a long shot” he stated as Optimus nodded to him. This caused Ironhide to sigh fully and rubbed his face, “Ratchet is waiting for me isn’t he?” he inquired to his leader, right now Optimus wasn’t his friend because of how in trouble Ironhide was and how he had acted just minutes prior. Such a turn around one could do if they actually thought instead of being an aft. 

All he got was a nod to answer him. Ironhide seemed to deflate some before rubbing his face. He was exhausted, he was in trouble, his helm still hurt despite the energon he had. It wasn’t a good morning for him at all. “What are my orders?” he asked Optimus since he was going to be in trouble for awhile it felt like. He was lucky that Optimus was his friend and didn’t take his rank as punishment to make him have curfew until he learned his lesson. Ironhide listened as Optimus spoke to him as his superior officer.

“Report to Ratchet, let him do a complete physical check up, meet me in my office right after he releases you, be sure to bring in a copy of results to add to the incident file” he told Ironhide. The weapon’s specialist huffed lightly and moved to go and open the door. He looked back to Optimus while the Prime had his battle mask in place to hide what facial expression he had. Hide turned his helm and left his hanger before starting to trek across the base. 

It was the walk of shame in all it’s glory. The talking, whispers, others staring and watching, Hide was trying to keep his composure without being angry or running. He vented in and continued to walk, looking to the hanger that Ratchet worked out of, connected right next to the main one that Optimus’ office and quarters were stationed in. It was well past the ten minute mark that Optimus had set and Ratchet was antsy. Hide heard him pacing and just stood outside of the hanger for a bit before knocking.

“Enter” he heard from the medic. He looked back to the soldiers whispering and watching before heading inside and closing the door. Inside, Ratchet was waiting with a wrench and an expression that showed he was not happy. The chartreuse mech wasn’t any bit of happy as Optimus had been. Ironhide just felt he was going to leave here feeling violated and more conscious of his being than he had been in a long while.


	4. Ratchet's exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ironhide's meet up with Ratchet isn't going to be too pleasant with all that Ratchet has to do. Ironhide is not going to get out of anything and his body isn't going to be left unchecked.

Ten minutes.

That was what Optimus had told him, ten minutes. 

The Autobot’s Chief Medical Officer had been alerted earlier about Ironhide’s adventure the previous night. To say his long night had gotten longer because of it was kind of an understatement. Going on his third day of a continuous shift without a whole lot of time to have breaks, checking _both_ human medical fitness alongside his own comrade’s general horsing around was a bit too much for one mech to do single handedly. They needed a human doctor for their smaller companions.

Thankfully they heard from Red Alert that First Aid and the rest of the Protectobot gestalt were on their way to coming to Earth. They’d be there within the week as they were passing Jupiter when the first transmission came in. It made Ratchet’s spark feel lighter with both relief that they had more of their own kind surviving and coming to join them, also the fact he wouldn’t be the only damn medic on base!

Right now, though, Ratchet was alone and pacing while gathering items for this exam of Ironhide. Honestly, _what_ was the mech thinking?! Going off base late at night, disappearing for hours with no contact or hint of where he was disappearing to, coming back polished to stupidness, and being in an embrace with another mech?! Ratchet had it in his mind to slap him silly for this stunt. He most likely would when he got his servos on him.

_If_ he got his servos on him. 

Fifteen minutes came and went.

Twenty. 

Twenty-four. 

How long were they going to take? 

Ratchet sent a ping of question to Optimus when he noticed that Ironhide wasn’t coming yet. He got an announcement from the Prime that he was on his way. Oh joy, he was in ‘leader mode’ with having to deal with the current situation at hand. That was always fun to deal with later when Optimus vented out his frustration with getting Ratchet’s report handed to him. 

A knock came to the door at the twenty-six minute mark and he called out for the one outside, better be Ironhide or he was hunting the mech down, to come in. _Thankfully_ , it was the wayward weapon specialist. He looked around the area in apprehension, as he should for all the slag he pulled, before settling his optics on Ratchet. The medic squinted at him, which made Ironhide go straighter in the back than he had been doing previously. 

Ironhide knew he was in trouble, but how much was Ratchet’s decision. 

“I have it in mind to give you a swift kick in the aft for this” Ratchet said while slamming his wrench on his servo in a threatening manner. He liked it when the others trembled in fear of being hurt from punishment, let them know he wasn’t going to be easy on them.

“Ratch’ I-”

“Don’t even start it, Ironhide, just get on the damn berth and shut your mouth” he snapped and watched Ironhide flinch. The more physically powerful mech scrambled onto the berth before Ratchet threw the wrench at him with being impatient and not in mood to listen to excuses. The medic huffed his vented in irritation before he set the wrench down on the counter behind him, grabbed a scanner and datapad with Ironhide’s file on record on it that laid just beside where he set the deadly tool down. 

In an almost saunter like walk, Ratchet moved to Ironhide and circled around him while the other watched in slight nervousness and disquiet. The medic didn’t speak while he was reading over the last time Ironhide came into the medical bay, the last check up, and the last clean bill of health. 

He would hope it was going to turn out the same, but he didn’t have a high set of said hopes in situations such as this. 

“Are you trying to make me mad or just plain stupid?” he asked Ironhide while the other gulped slightly. 

“Ah don’t know which would be worse” was the response. Ratchet squinted at Ironhide and huffed, “Making me mad would be the worse option” he pointed out to Ironhide, who hummed in agreement.

“You know what’s going to happen right? The full exploration of your being, the scanning, the prodding, poking, tests, scrapping…. You best pray I find nothing, see nothing, or we are going to have more than just your insubordination being a problem, Hide” he growled lowly. Ironhide hummed again and nodded while shivering slightly. Oh he was not looking forward to what Ratchet was going to do to him. He hadn’t been through a full exam like this since Bee was still a spark. Yet, he still remembered the discomfort he had and the feeling of being violated by medical instruments lingering long after the exam had been done. 

Ratchet let him wait a little before he huffed and sat the pad down and got some gloves on. They weren’t needed, but he saw humans use them for intimidation purposes and decided to do it too. It worked as Ironhide flinched when the gloves snapped against Ratchet’s wrist guards. 

“Strip yourself of your armor and put it off on the medical berth to your left.” Ratchet ordered Ironhide and got some lubrication to use on the other instruments to start heating up a small bit before he grabbed the scanning wand and screen. He heard Ironhide wrestle with himself to remove the armor quickly and he rolled his optics. Really, he was going to take his time with this, explore every croon and cranny of Ironhide’s frame, spark, and internal systems for any possible virus, nanite, rust, parasite, or sparkling that could be in Ironhide’s body. He just hope the last one wasn’t going to be there, it would both devastating and detrimental to not just Hide’s body with them having limited supplies, but also to his job, the base, security, and health of said sparkling if there was anything there. 

Ratchet didn’t want to cut the connection of the bud if there was a small spark hiding there among the webbing of energy. 

Once Ironhide was stripped and standing in his mesh, Ratchet told him to put his arms out and spread his legs. He turned the wand on and let it hum to start the external scanning and mid internal readings. If any small thing, any cut, bruising, scrape, mesh damage, bug, or stitch was in there, the wand would alert him. So far, from just waving his wand over Ironhide’s left servo, he found six scars and three cuts. They were expected, the scars that was, yet the cuts were new. Maybe from the rendezvous mecha that Ironhide had met? 

Humming, Ratchet moved on and noted the old scars that was there, pawing marks from the coupling, grips alongside Hide’s hips, midriff, shoulders, and thighs. Ratchet noted he was thinking of multiple items at once in several situations. Maybe he should slow his thinking sometime…. Yet that wasn’t going to happen at this moment. 

Scar after scar, cut after cut, grips, bites even, Ratchet was finding them. Seemed Ironhide had been with someone that was just as pent up as he was as he found a few deep bite along the wiring of his neck cabling. He went along Ironhide’s back again and found more bites there and in the crook of his let leg near where the valve covering would have been. The mecha had gotten up close and personal. The fact that Ironhide let them told Ratchet two things. 

For one, Ironhide had interface roughly and had been pent up energy wise for a while.

And two, the fact that Ironhide let the mecha up close told him that Ironhide didn’t care if the other left marks behind on him, he had just wanted to have pleasure

His helm shook as he got a scan on the opening of Ironhide’s valve rim and lips. Normally, these would be covered by the armor. The ‘lips’, as humans would refer to them as, were just folds that covered the opening in a protective manner, magnetizing together to keep it closed. With having armor on, the lips would magnetize to them and keep the valve open behind the cover so if there was an emergency within the valve, the medic looking at it could just remove the covering and go in, no need to try and spread the lips apart and worry about keeping them open. 

The metal around the lips and the lips themselves were swollen, the magnetizing was slightly off, showing that Ironhide hadn’t stopped lubricating internally, which told Ratchet that whomever Ironhide had been with released their transfluids inside the old weapon specialist. That worried Ratchet, if the charge hadn’t been met properly and Ironhide played with himself via spark, there could have been a small bud lingering behind. 

“On the berth” he told Ironhide after turning off the wand and screen. It was now time to go in deeper and check the internal systems. Ratchet put the scanner back where he had it on his tool station then grabbed a small pen light, a speculum, an external spreader clip set, and a depressor to start down at the valve. 

Ironhide did as he was told and slid onto the berth, sitting there while waiting for more orders. He watched Ratchet for a moment, saw what he was grabbing and grimaced a bit. Those clips were down right uncomfortable. Not to mention that speculum made him exposed to Ratchet and his gloved servos. Which was a good thing in Ratchet’s opinion, he needed to see everything.

“Legs up and spread” he told Hide as he got close and set the items down on the berth some. Ironhide scooted back and laid upon the berth. His legs came up and he slid them apart as he had been told to do. He was afraid that Ratchet would do something else if he didn’t follow the orders to a ‘T’ so to speak. 

Seeing that Ironhide was complying and doing what he was told, made Ratchet’s job a lot easier. He moved and grabbed one of the clips from the set, turned on the small magnet in it. His servo went up and started to spread the lips apart. He moved one of the magnets in the lips to the clip and latched it on, seeing Ironhide flinch some externally and internally. He noted the walls clenching slightly inside Ironhide’s valve while lubricants began to slowly flow out with the opening freed. Ratchet grabbed another clip and attached it  to another magnet then to a wire that went around Hide’s leg and applied to the first clip to keep the lips from closing again. He repeated this on the other side soon after and slid the rest of the clips off to the side table he had. 

Grabbing the pen light and depressor, Ratchet moved in to look at the forward lining of the walls. The light clicked on and shined into the intimate area while the depressor pushed down some of the swollen lining so he could see if there was a break in it or something lingering behind. The light slid around slowly, scanning every inch of the slick surface as it could before it couldn’t see any deeper. So far there was nothing, which was a good sign, yet there was still more to investigate.

Ironhide was nervous throughout the internal exam. He felt Ratchet’s every movement and wondered if there was something left inside him other than fluids. It was kind of worrying to think he could have a ‘hitch-hiker’ hidden inside the folds of his valve. Ratchet didn’t say anything, so maybe that was a good thing? 

He shivered as the depressor was removed from his valve and saw Ratchet lubricating up the speculum. Ironhide’s helm had lulled to the side and he saw lots of tools on the tool station and on the berth. Oh that was terrifying to see. Was that a snip set? Did Ratchet think he had a bud? His vents went quicker as he worried about the possibility of being a creator gain and then having it snipped out of him. Ironhide heard horror stories about buts being snipped our or forcefully cut by hand, yanked out, crushed even to get rid of it. How could anyone do that? The emotional damage was enough to make him feel shivers as he read along time ago, back when others didn’t question if he read anything or could read, that buds and string connections of a sparkling could scar and damage a spark if forcefully removed or not properly taken care of in the removal. 

He was afraid it would happen to him. 

Ratchet wondered what got Ironhide scared all of a sudden as he felt the weapon’s specialist have a spike in his electromagnetic field that signaled to the medic that Ironhide was fearful. He sighed and petted Ironhide’s leg lightly in a soothing manner while still holding the speculum. It didn’t seem to do much, but it did give Ironhide something to be distracted with. It left Ironhide confused, but it helped a small bit with him being distracted from the tool set. 

The medic moved to slide the speculum in and continue the examination. He was making mental notes of what he found, didn’t find, and his thoughts on the process while he worked. This would go into his report later for Optimus to read and for future examinations to reflect on. The speculum slowly was spread open so he could see farther into the valve and search for more items to see if there was anything worrying to have to remove or treat. 

As in earlier examining, it was swollen, yet clean. This was a relief, no rust was in Ironhide’s valve. This would have been a sign that the gestation chamber would have been in danger if there was. There also wasn’t any little ‘bugs’ lingering around so he could skip the chamber all together if he wished. If he was any other medic, he probably would have. But he was the chief medical officer of the Autobot regime and that meant he wasn’t one to skip anything. 

He pulled the light out and turned it off, leaving the speculum inside, and grab some wire like cord with a scope at the end. Ratchet showed Ironhide it before stating, “I’m going to need you to open you chamber when I say so.” Ironhide nodded and breathed in slowly through his vents to calm himself and prepare his mental state. Ratchet moved to slide the scope in while he looked to a screen on the table and saw the internal looks of the valve in a more close inspection. The scope wiggled around and shined inside with lights around the camera while it went in. 

“Open” Ratchet said as he got to the gestation chamber and saw the seal slowly spiral open to allow the cord inside. Slithering in, the cord moved in and showed the remaining fluids that had been partly processed to energy and fuel. Some had leaked out of the chamber by the seal opening, but it wasn’t as full as it probably had been when Ironhide had earlier. Ratchet smiled, good, least it was being processed. 

The scope took a small sample with a small tube ‘slurping’ up the liquid as it moved around the chamber, scanning and searching for anything out of the ordinary. The search came up empty, so to speak, and Ratchet pulled the cord out and told Ironhide that he could close up. The medic laid the cord back in place and started to remove the clamps and wire so the lips could close. But he also cleaned the lips to let them properly seal without having lubrication being in the way. The speculum came out before the lips closed fully, leaving Ironhide sealed up. 

“Alright, now the spark exam” he told Ironhide. The weapon specialist was thankful that there hadn’t been any scraping going on, which meant he was clean down in his valve. Last time he had some rust that came from Bee’s sire and let’s just say he had been an unhappy camper with an itch he couldn’t scratch.

“So far, you’re clean, but I still have to check your spark and lines to see if you have a bud or producing anything from stimulation.” he told Ironhide. 

“Ah’m not leaking any energon from the slagging lines!” Ironhide hissed to Ratchet, which got him a look, “Sorry” he told Ratchet. 

“Better be, and I have to check. You might not be leaking, but you could have some back up in the lines themselves, which would make you start hurting. If you remember from when Bee was born” he told Ironhide. He made a face at it and Ratchet snorted. It seemed all the bad things happened when Bee was a sparkling or a bud. Ironhide’s lines had backed up because he hadn’t known to stimulate them and work the energon out so it wouldn’t coagulate inside. He had been hurting for several sols until he went to Ratchet and got the lines drained.

“Now let’s check these last two areas and then you’re free to go to Optimus, which I’m sure he’s waiting to see you” he told Ironhide. The other mech just looked to the side and Ratchet snorted. “If you didn’t do what you did, you’d be doing what you normally do by now” Ratchet said in a scolding manner before Ironhide opened his chassis.

“Just get this over with” he told Ratchet. The medic went and started to check after disposing of the gloves. He lightly began to feel around the spark for any abnormalities like a growth, bump, hitch in the whole energy wisps or if Ironhide reacted differently. He lightly fingered around and checked while Ironhide flushed with the slight pleasure from his soul being fondled slightly in the feeling around. He had felt, or what he thought he felt, something send a jolt through him, but when Ratchet went over it again, nothing happened. 

As odd as it felt, Ratchet continued around until he found nothing out of ordinary. Which was great, he wasn’t sparked, he didn’t have a bud, he was clean as a whistle. Even the line checking was coming out clean as Ratchet felt the ‘sac’ around the spark chamber on both sides. The medic sighed in relief as he finished up and went to stand and roll the tools away. 

“Alright, you’re clean, nothing out of the ordinary to worry about” he said and Ironhide was relieved as well. “Now, don’t ever come back in here on order again. If you do something stupid like you did, come back to me right when you get to base or done with whatever you do” he warned Ironhide. The topkick nodded and shifted in place before moving to dress himself so he could go see Optimus. Ratchet was beginning to clean his tools while Ironhide finished dressing himself. He hummed to himself as he slid his armor on and felt something lightly slide fro his spark, but maybe it was his imagination. After all, Ratchet said he was clean, he had no bud, that sliding sensation probably was another tendril growing out to replace some that were old. 

“Thank you, Ratchet” Ironhide told the medic, who just made a noise while he worked to show he heard. The weapon specialist nodded and headed to the door and then out of the medical area to go to the Prime’s office. Another meeting was going to happen and he…. Well, Ironhide’s long day was only just starting. 


End file.
